Fuyumi's phone rings as she puts the last dish from dinner into the drying rack. She brushes her hand against the towel laying on the counter before grabbing the phone from her pocket.
"Hi, Natsuo! How are you? Were your summer classes okay? The new semester starts soon, doesn't it?"
She can hear her brother laugh on the other end. "Everything's going fine, Fuyumi. And I can see you're doing well too. We're not even five seconds in and you're already interrogating me."
"I'm not interrogating you!" Fuyumi exits the kitchen and sits down on the couch. "If it makes you feel any better, I interrogate Shouto too whenever he comes home from school. I just want to know about what's keeping you so busy all the time that you can't even visit your dear, old sister during your summer break."
"You're twenty-two."
"Yeah, well dealing with you two for the past ten years really took the life out of me."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Honestly? I was still folding your laundry up until you left for college, Natsu. The other day, I asked Shouto to clean up from dinner because I had to run out for a bit. I came home and all he did was put the dirty dishes in the sink! How is that cleaning up? Why are you laughing?"
Fuyumi folds her arms as she waits for her brother to stop laughing. She can literally hear him wiping the tears from his eyes. "He's just pretending to be an idiot, Yumi! His plan is to do such a bad job that you just stop asking him entirely."
"Oh, really? And I'm assuming you taught him that?"
"Possibly..."
"Well, then guess who's folding his own laundry when he finally comes to visit."
"Maybe I just won't visit."
Fuyumi laughs and Natsuo soon joins in with her. They haven't spoken to each other in almost two weeks and Fuyumi enjoys hearing his voice again, even if he is just joking around. Natsuo has always been the more exuberant one, resorting to humor and playful banter whenever possible. It's his way of coping, similar to how she escapes by busying herself with her work and her brothers.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
Fuyumi's eyes widen as she remembers what she had wanted to tell him. "Oh, right! So, get this, Shouto's school decided to implement a new dorming system, you know, because of all the attacks and stuff. Honestly, I think it's a good thing because those things had me nervous. But now, I can sleep at night because I'll know Shouto and his classmates are safe at U.A."
"Geez, you sound like an over worried mom."
"Well, someone has to worry about him."
"Yeah, because it's not like the old man is." Natsuo says, making Fuyumi flinch at his cold tone. "Speaking of him, what did he have to say about all this or did you not tell him yet? He's not gonna allow it, I can tell you that. You didn't get Shouto's hopes up, did you? I swear, Fuyumi, you-"
"He said yes."
Fuyumi holds her breath as she waits for Natsuo to respond. He doesn't believe her, she can hear it in his silence. If there's one fault about Natsuo, it's that he has no hope. She knows that no matter what she says, he won't be happy. It's a fact of life she hasn't yet come to accept. Nothing her father does will inspire a feeling of hope in her brother.
"What do you mean, 'he said yes'?"
"Natsu..." Fuyumi drags out his name, trying to think of what else to say. Their father is allowing it, what else does he want her to tell him? "I'm just telling you like it happened. He said yes and that was the end of it. What's their not to understand?"
"Are you forgetting who our father is?" The question stings. Fuyumi is aware of how out of character it all sounds and she knows Natsuo knows that, so it hurts that he's still accusing of such a thing. "Do you not remember what he's done?"
"Natsu..."
"Quit 'Natsu-ing' me!" Fuyumi flinches again as Natsuo raises his voice. "When will you open your eyes and actually look at what's going on? You can't live in the dark forever. Just stop being so delusional already! That man is a heartless, selfish bastard and he will never be anything else! I don't care what he says or what he does. We can't trust him!"
Fuyumi clenches her free hand into a fist and sits up straight. "What, so you think he has some ulterior motive."
"I don't know, Fuyumi, but he's definitely not allowing Shouto to dorm out of the kindness of his heart."
The front door opens and Fuyumi sits in silence as her father enters the house. She waits until he goes up the stairs. She can't have him hearing her talk about him. "So he's not allowed to do anything nice?"
"After everything he's put this family through? No, he's not. He doesn't deserve the chance to do nice things for us."
Fuyumi sinks back into the couch, closing her eyes and letting the tears she had been holding back fall. This is why she had tried to leave their father out of the conversation. Natsuo is one of the most good-natured, optimistic people she knows, but just the slightest mention of their father and his personality completely turns around. In Natsuo's mind, Todoroki Enji is just another name for Satan.
"I have to go clean up from dinner."
"Sure." If he knows she's lying, he doesn't show it. "We'll talk some other time."
"Alright, have a good night."
"You too. Take care of yourself and say hi to Shouto for me."
Fuyumi hangs up and lets the phone drop onto the couch as wipes the tears from her face with her sleeve. She knows her brother's feelings lay on the opposite side of the spectrum from hers and while she respects his right to form his own opinions, it makes it difficult to talk to him about these things.
She tries to see where Natsuo is coming from, why he believes what he believes, but everytime she fails. He hasn't seen what she's seen. He hasn't witnessed what good things Todoroki Enji is capable of. If he could just experience it like she had then maybe he would see it too, the heart that Fuyumi knows exists.
###
She was thirteen at the time. It hadn't been long since her mother was sent away and she found herself, a mere middle school student, forced into the role of mother for her two younger brothers.
She never held it against them. It wasn't their fault that their real mother wasn't around anymore and they were too young to take care of themselves. Deep down, Fuyumi knew that she too was too young to be the adult, but she suppressed the thought and hid her tears. Someone had to be there for Natsuo and Shouto. She wouldn't allow them to be neglected.
Touya never approved of it. He'd give her a disappointed look everytime he caught her folding the laundry, cooking dinner, or getting her brothers ready for bed.
"Why doesn't Dad just hire a nanny?" Touya asked her one night while she helped Shouto change into his pajamas. "He has the money for it."
Fuyumi ignored him as he continued to glare at her from the doorway. He already knew the answer, they both did. Their father didn't want to risk anyone finding out what went on in their house and if that meant no maids or nannies while he was away at work, then they'd have to live without them.
"Come on, Shouto." She said, turning her back on Touya. "Time for bed."
She had spent the rest of the evening washing up from dinner and cleaning the bathroom. After pushing it off for two weeks already, she decided she needed to go and get it done. When she finally finished, she promised herself she would never wait that long again.
It was almost midnight now and although she wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep, she needed to start studying for the math test she had the next morning. And besides, there was still a load of laundry going in the washing machine.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?"
Fuyumi didn't look up from her textbook as Touya walked over to stand by her desk. "I need to study, Touya. Why are you even awake? It's almost midnight."
"Why am I awake? Why are you awake, Fuyumi?!" She jumped as Touya suddenly shut her textbook closed with a thud. "And you wouldn't need to study right now if you hadn't decided to play 'house' earlier with Natsu and Shouto."
"If you care so much, then why don't you help out?"
"I shouldn't have to and neither should you!"
She pushed his hand out of the way and reopened her textbook. "I know how things should be, but right now they aren't and we just have to deal with that."
Fuyumi kept her gaze glued to the page in front of her and pretended to study it. She could feel Touya's eyes burning into her, but she ignored him. After a few moments of silence, Touya let out a huff and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
"You're gonna wake up Natsu and Shouto, you jerk!"
Fuyumi sighed and held her head in her hands as she tried to hold back the tears. She hated that Touya made her feel like this. She hated that disappointed look and those hurtful words he always threw her. She hated that he did nothing to lighten her burden while still acting as if he didn't like seeing her work so hard.
But no matter how much he hurt her, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. Touya cared, she knew he did, but he was also stubborn. He felt strongly about what he believed and he wasn't going to let real-life circumstances get in the way of his protests. He had a point to make to their father and if he had to neglect his siblings and leave them to fend for themselves to do that, then he would.
There was a part of Fuyumi that wanted to blame him for that, but she couldn't do it. She loved Touya and she knew, in his own twisted way, that he loved her too as well as her brothers. So she continued to sacrifice her own academics and energy for her brothers' sake while Touya just looked on and shook his head in disapproval.
It was nearing one in the morning now and Fuyumi couldn't keep her eyes from closing. She wasn't prepared for her math test but her brain had decided it wasn't solving any more equations and she was more than happy to oblige. She closed her textbook and layed her head on the desk. She just needed to wait a little longer for the laundry to be done and then she could go to sleep.
Fuyumi just started to doze off at her desk when she heard her bedroom door creak open. She lifted her head to see who it was and felt her eyes go wide and her cheeks flush when she saw her father standing in the doorway, decked in his hero costume but with his flames turned off.
"D-Dad!" She stuttered as she tried to compose herself. "You're home late."
"You're up late."
Fuyumi let out a nervous laugh as her eyes traveled back to the textbook her father was staring at. "Ah, well, I have this math test tomorrow that I needed to finish studying for."
"You study with your book closed?"
Fuyumi's fingers went to fidget with her glasses as she tried to think up a lie. Honestly, when had he ever asked her so many questions? "I was just finishing."
Fuyumi kept her gaze on her desk, unable to lie to her father while looking at him. Her left leg began to tremble as she waited for his response.
"Are you going to bed, then?"
She shook her head. "There's still a load in the wash-"
"I'll take care of it."
Fuyumi looked up at her father, eyes wide in disbelief. When had he ever shown concern about her sleep, let alone her in general? Did he even know how to work the dryer? Should she ask him?
"Uh, thanks. It should be done soon."
"Go to sleep." He said, turning to leave. "You won't do well on that test if you're tired."
Fuyumi didn't wait to be told twice. The second her father closed the door, she jumped into bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
The next morning, she was exhausted. Her father had left for work before she had woken up, so she didn't have to worry about running into him after the strange encounter the night before. On her way to the bathroom, Fuyumi peeked into the laundry room and, true to her father's word, the clothes had been dried and were now sitting folded in the laundry basket.
If one surprising deed from her father hadn't been enough, then Fuyumi was in luck. When she arrived at school later and pulled out her pencil for the math test, her teacher skipped her desk when passing out the test papers and whispered to her to follow her outside the classroom.
"Sensei, is something wrong?"
Her teacher shook her head. "Fuyumi, your father called me earlier and explained you had a busy night last night and weren't able to prepare properly for the math test. He asked if I could give you another day, so why don't you take the time now to study while your classmates are taking their test and I'll give you yours tomorrow."
"He called you?" Fuyumi wondered out loud before realizing what she said. "I mean, thank you! I really appreciate it, sensei."
Her father trained Shouto hard that night and as Fuyumi helped patch him up afterwards, she couldn't help but feel like she had in some way been responsible for it.
###
"Get up, Shouto!"
Enji watches, just as he always does, as Ryuunosuke shouts at his youngest son. The boy is on his knees panting, drops of blood falling from a fresh cut on his right arm and forming a puddle on the floor. He wants to do something, to get Shouto out of there and bandage the wound on his arm so it doesn't get infected because he knows Ryuunosuke won't. He can only hope that Fuyumi will be around to help him when Ryuunosuke finally gets bored.
This is my fault, Enji tells himself. If I would just shut my damn mouth.
But he knows he can't. He can't stay silent for long while his children are suffering. Overpowering Ryuunosuke is the only thing Enji can do and he hates that as a consequence, Shouto has to get hurt. If only he could explain to him what's going on. If only he could explain to someone. If only someone could know!
But nobody knows. No one knows that he is trapped. No one knows that his son is being abused and his other children are neglected. No one knows the true gravity of his wife's condition. No one knows his eldest is missing or possibly dead.
Touya could be dead.
If Enji were able to shed tears while possessed, he would. He tries not to think about Touya, not because he doesn't want to care, but because it's too hard to. There's nothing he can do, he can't even go out looking for him.
He hopes he's not dead. He hopes he's not in pain or in trouble. If he could just know that he's safe, at least then he wouldn't have to worry about all the other undesirable possibilities. However, that's assuming he is safe. Enji doesn't like thinking anything otherwise.
"I'm done playing this game with you." Ryuunosuke says, turning away from Shouto. "Be weak, but know that a hero can't just give up when he feels too tired. You better not slack off when you start dorming."
I'm sorry, Shouto, Touya, all of you. You deserve better.
Sorry for the delay. School is taking up a lot of my time.
So a few things on this chapter. I rewrote the first scene like 4 times because I was trying to get the interactions between Fuyumi and Natsuo right. One of my biggest peeves in fiction and fanfiction is the unrealistic sibling interactions. I have 4 siblings myself, varying in ages from 10 months apart from me to 17 years apart from me, so I think I know a bit about how siblings interact and many people, who I'm gonna assume are only children, don't get it right. I don't know, maybe you think their conversation wasn't realistic. Let me know what you think. I was trying to explore them wanting to talk to each other civilly while at the same time trying to keep their differing opinions from getting in the way. I also feel this sudden shift in the conversation from joking around as close siblings to arguing and shouting at each other is typical of sibling interactions. And then of course being quick to forgive afterwards. Anyway, what did you all think?
Also, a quick thought about Touya- I think he always had a darker side to his personality. Maybe not to the point of murder when he was younger, but still dark nonetheless. I still think he cared about his siblings, just that his way of defying his father kind of interfered with that. I think this darker side of his personality would have contributed to his becoming a villain and eventually leading him to commit things like murder. Anyway, that's why he acted the way he did in that flashback. He just has a darker way of dealing with things.
Thank you for all the reviews and follows! You have no idea how happy they make me and I smile like an idiot whenever I read them :D Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
And don't worry, we'll be getting back to Dabi next chapter ;)
-britishsconesahoy
